Compounds which inhibit thrombin by interaction with the active site of this protease are used or are being developed as antithrombotic agents. Examples of such compounds include argatroban (Okamoto S. et al. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 101, 440, 1981 inter alia), PPACK (Kettner C. A. and Shaw E. N., Thromb. Res. 14, 969, 1979 inter alia), DUP 714 (Kettner C. A. et al J. Biol. Chem. 265, 18289, 1990 inter alia) and hirudins (Rydel T. J. et al. Science vol. 249, page 277, July 1990 inter alia).
In the case of myocardial infarction, arterial or venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, thrombin inhibitors can accelerate lysis and prevent reocclusion after treatment with an exogenous thrombolytic agent such as recombinant plasminogen activator (rTPA) or streptokinase.